1998 Major League Baseball season

This article is about the 1998 Major League Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 1998 in baseball.
1998 MLB season
League Major League Baseball
Sport Baseball
Duration March 31, 1998 – October 21, 1998
Regular Season
Season MVP AL: Juan Gonzalez (TEX)
NL: Sammy Sosa (CHC)
League Postseason
AL champions New York Yankees
  AL runners-up Cleveland Indians
NL champions San Diego Padres
  NL runners-up Atlanta Braves
World Series
Champions New York Yankees
  Runners-up San Diego Padres
World Series MVP Scott Brosius (NYY)

The 1998 Major League Baseball season ended with the New York Yankees defeating the San Diego Padres in Game 4 of the World Series.

The 1998 season was also marked by an expansion to 30 teams (16 in the NL, 14 in the AL), with two new teams–the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League, and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the American League–added to the MLB. To keep the leagues with even numbers of teams[1] while allowing both leagues to have a new team, the Milwaukee Brewers were moved from the American League Central Division to the National League Central Division. The Detroit Tigers were shifted from the American League East to the American League Central, while the Devil Rays were added to the American League East. The Diamondbacks were added to the National League West, making the NL have more teams than the AL for the first time.

The biggest story of the season was the historic chase of the single-season home run record held at the time by Roger Maris. Initially, the St. Louis Cardinals' Mark McGwire and Ken Griffey, Jr. of the Seattle Mariners started the season on a pace to both break Maris' record. In June, the chase was joined by the Chicago Cubs' Sammy Sosa, who broke the decades-old record of Rudy York for most home runs in a calendar month with 20 that month. Eventually, Griffey fell off the record pace, but still ended with 56 homers. Both McGwire and Sosa broke the record in September, with McGwire ultimately finishing with 70 homers to Sosa's 66. McGwire's record would last only three years, with Barry Bonds hitting 73 in 2001. The 1998 season was also the first in MLB history with four players hitting 50 or more homers, with Greg Vaughn of the San Diego Padres hitting 50. In a postscript to the record chase, both McGwire and Sosa have since been widely accused of having used performance-enhancing drugs during that period, and McGwire would admit in 2010 that he had used steroids during the record-setting season.[2]

The defending World Series champions Florida Marlins finished last in the NL East Division at 54-108, making it the first, and only, time that a team went from winning the World Series one year to finishing with 100 or more losses and last in their division the following year.

Major league baseball final standings

American League

AL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
(1) New York Yankees 114 48 0.704 62–19 52–29
(4) Boston Red Sox 92 70 0.568 22 51–30 41–40
Toronto Blue Jays 88 74 0.543 26 51–30 37–44
Baltimore Orioles 79 83 0.488 35 42–39 37–44
Tampa Bay Devil Rays 63 99 0.389 51 33–48 30–51
AL Central W L Pct. GB Home Road
(2) Cleveland Indians 89 73 0.549 46–35 43–38
Chicago White Sox 80 82 0.494 9 44–37 36–45
Kansas City Royals 72 89 0.447 16½ 29–51 43–38
Minnesota Twins 70 92 0.432 19 35–46 35–46
Detroit Tigers 65 97 0.401 24 32–49 33–48
AL West W L Pct. GB Home Road
(3) Texas Rangers 88 74 0.543 48–33 40–41
Anaheim Angels 85 77 0.525 3 42–39 43–38
Seattle Mariners 76 85 0.472 11½ 42–39 34–46
Oakland Athletics 74 88 0.457 14 39–42 35–46

National League

NL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
(1) Atlanta Braves 106 56 0.654 56–25 50–31
New York Mets 88 74 0.543 18 47–34 41–40
Philadelphia Phillies 75 87 0.463 31 40–41 35–46
Montreal Expos 65 97 0.401 41 39–42 26–55
Florida Marlins 54 108 0.333 52 31–50 23–58
NL Central W L Pct. GB Home Road
(2) Houston Astros 102 60 0.630 55–26 47–34
(4) Chicago Cubs 90 73 0.552 12½ 51–31 39–42
St. Louis Cardinals 83 79 0.512 19 48–34 35–45
Cincinnati Reds 77 85 0.475 25 39–42 38–43
Milwaukee Brewers 74 88 0.457 28 38–43 36–45
Pittsburgh Pirates 69 93 0.426 33 40–40 29–53
NL West W L Pct. GB Home Road
(3) San Diego Padres 98 64 0.605 54–27 44–37
San Francisco Giants 89 74 0.546 49–32 40–42
Los Angeles Dodgers 83 79 0.512 15 48–33 35–46
Colorado Rockies 77 85 0.475 21 42–39 35–46
Arizona Diamondbacks 65 97 0.401 33 34–47 31–50

Postseason

  Division Series
NBC/Fox/ESPN
League Championship Series
NBC/Fox
World Series
Fox
                           
  1  New York Yankees 3  
3  Texas 0  
  1  New York Yankees 4  
American League
  2  Cleveland 2  
2  Cleveland 3
  4  Boston 1  
    AL  New York Yankees 4
  NL  San Diego 0
  1  Atlanta 3  
4  Chicago Cubs 0  
  1  Atlanta 2
National League
  3  San Diego 4  
2  Houston 1
  3  San Diego 3  

Awards and honors

MLB statistical leaders

  American League National League
Type Name Stat Name Stat
AVG Bernie Williams NYY .339 Larry Walker COL .363
HR Ken Griffey, Jr. SEA 56 Mark McGwire STL 70
RBI Juan González TEX 157 Sammy Sosa CHC 158
Wins Roger Clemens1 TOR
David Cone NYY
Rick Helling TEX
20 Tom Glavine ATL 20
ERA Roger Clemens1 TOR 2.65 Greg Maddux ATL 2.22
SO Roger Clemens1 TOR 271 Curt Schilling PHI 300
SV Tom Gordon BOS 46 Trevor Hoffman SDP 53
SB Rickey Henderson OAK 66 Tony Womack PIT 58

1 American League Triple Crown pitching winner

Managers

American League

Team Manager Notes
Anaheim Angels Terry Collins
Baltimore Orioles Ray Miller
Boston Red Sox Jimy Williams
Chicago White Sox Jerry Manuel
Cleveland Indians Mike Hargrove
Detroit Tigers Buddy Bell, Larry Parrish Bell (52–85, .380), Parrish (13–12, .520)
Kansas City Royals Tony Muser
Minnesota Twins Tom Kelly
New York Yankees Joe Torre Won the World Series
Oakland Athletics Art Howe
Seattle Mariners Lou Piniella
Tampa Bay Devil Rays Larry Rothschild Expansion team
Texas Rangers Johnny Oates
Toronto Blue Jays Tim Johnson

National League

Team Manager Notes
Arizona Diamondbacks Buck Showalter Expansion team
Atlanta Braves Bobby Cox
Chicago Cubs Jim Riggleman
Cincinnati Reds Jack McKeon
Colorado Rockies Don Baylor
Florida Marlins James Towers
Houston Astros Larry Dierker
Los Angeles Dodgers Bill Russell, Glenn Hoffman Russell (36–38, .486), Hoffman (47–41, .534)
Milwaukee Brewers Phil Garner
Montreal Expos Felipe Alou
New York Mets Bobby Valentine
Philadelphia Phillies Terry Francona
Pittsburgh Pirates Gene Lamont
St. Louis Cardinals Tony La Russa
San Diego Padres Bruce Bochy Won National League pennant
San Francisco Giants Dusty Baker

Events

January–March

April–June

July–September

October–December

References

  1. With an odd number of teams (15), only seven games would be able to be scheduled in each league on any given day during the intra-league portion of the regular season. Thus, one team in each league would have had to be idle on any given day. This would have made it difficult for scheduling, in terms of travel days and the need to end the regular season before October. See Major League Baseball#League organization. If each league had wished to remain at fifteen teams, the schedule would have had to include one inter-league game during each day of intra-league play. Instead, with each league now having an even number of teams, interleague games occur only in certain parts of the regular season.
  2. "McGwire apologizes to La Russa, Selig". ESPN.com. January 11, 2010. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
  3. "Riggleman reflects on Kerry Wood's 1998 season". suntimes.com. June 18, 2006. Retrieved July 13, 2014.
  4. http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/awards_1998.shtml#NLmvp
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